Republican senators set conditions for budget

Senate Republicans said they’re ready to work with the Democratic majority on a new state budget as long as the Democrats meet their conditions, including that the temporary income tax increase be allowed to expire.

Senate Republicans said they’re ready to work with the Democratic majority on a new state budget as long as the Democrats meet their conditions.

The Senate GOP set out a lengthy list of criteria Wednesday, including that talk of a progressive income tax be dropped and that the temporary income tax increase be allowed to expire at the end of the year as scheduled.

“We are willing to work with the Democratic majorities, but if they want us to work with them, there are things they are going to have to recognize and commit to,” said Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno of Lemont.

Radogno led several of her Republican colleagues at a news conference Wednesday, just two days after Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, warned of what he said would be a $3 billion hole in the state budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1. Cullerton chided the four Republican candidates for governor, who oppose extension of the temporary tax hike, for not offering specific details about how they would deal with that deficit. Cullerton did not offer his own plan for dealing with the shortfall.

“He’s the head of the largest super-majority in modern Illinois history, and he comes out and says ‘I’m not offering a solution,’ ” said Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine. “After 11 years of total Democratic control, the Democrats are bankrupt of ideas and the rest of Illinois is just plain bankrupt.”

Republicans, meanwhile, have blasted Gov. Pat Quinn and the Democratic majorities in the House and Senate for delaying the governor’s annual budget speech until after the March 18 primary. Murphy said he firmly believes Quinn wants to see which Republican wins the primary election for governor so that the budget can be shaped to gain an advantage over the winner.

Quinn’s budget office has said he needs more time to prepare in order to present a spending plan that looks five years into the future.

Republicans presented their list of demands on the same day Quinn would have delivered his budget speech had the General Assembly not agreed to give him more time.

In addition to demanding that the temporary income tax hike expire and that the idea of a progressive income tax be dropped, Republicans said Democrats have to agree to rein in spending by holding the line on existing programs and not creating new ones. They also called for an end to “pet programs that are ineffective” such as Grow Your Own Teacher, which has produced only 70 teachers in six years at a cost of $19 million.

Republicans said school aid needs to be changed to eliminate a block grant for Chicago that takes millions of dollars away from suburban and downstate schools, and the state must continue to eliminate people from Medicaid rolls who are no longer entitled to benefits.

Page 2 of 2 - “We’re willing to work with them, but those are the bottom-line things,” Radogno said.

Cullerton spokeswoman Rikeesha Phelon said that “while we are encouraged they have chosen to participate, we would like to see the math associated with the concepts they promoted today.”

Lawmakers are faced with a particularly tough financial situation this year. Although Quinn has yet to deliver his budget, a preliminary estimate released by his budget office last month projected a $1.9 billion loss in revenue in the next fiscal year, mostly from the expiration of the income tax hike. Cullerton projected a $3 billion budget gap.

House budget negotiators are still working to set broad spending limits for the next fiscal year, but those also are expected to show a significant drop in revenue because of the income tax expiration.

Lawmakers temporarily raised the state income tax by 67 percent in 2011, with the rate on individuals going from 3 percent to 5 percent. The rate is scheduled to drop to 3.75 percent on Jan. 1, 2015, which is midway through the state’s next budget year.